Commissioned by the Imlay City Downtown Development to depict the history of Imlay City, the two artists created a mural featuring Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones came to Imlay City on December 23, 1870. He was the village’s first physician and village president. Also pictured are the Fairgrounds, the first school built in Imlay City (Fourth and Calkins Street), and the Water Tower. The Hands of Unity represent the Imlay City pioneers who were of many ethnic backgrounds; German, Dutch and Mexican migrant workers. The Muck Farmlands continue to be an important economic factor to the Imlay City region. Celery, iceberg lettuce, and blueberries have all been crops grown in the muck.

Charles Palmer was the founder of Imlay City. Mr. Palmer selected this locality as a likely produce market between Attica and Capac. The mural depicts the importance of the railroad to Imlay City’s history. Lumber, livestock and produce have also been important commodities exported from Imlay City. The First Town Clock was installed on the Town Hall’s tower in 1903.

I painted the Grain stacks because they are a significant landmark of your city…and like many others they are a symbol of the industrious efforts of farmers through centuries. Unfortunately they seem to be an endangered species and will soon be removed (as may of those in Lapeer).

The farmland scenes I passed everyday when I drove over to paint (in downtown Imlay City). I have flown over these jewels of the landscape for years, driven through them, got lost in them. They are America in it’s best.

For this piece I wanted to use pure abstraction from two of my favorite artists. Piet Mondrian, and Jackson Pollock were two artists that broke all the rules of conventional art-making in order to make art that made themselves happy before anyone else. Love it, or hate it it makes you think.

For my last piece I wanted to create a landscape in the style of Fauvism, which is characterized by bright, vivid colors, and bold outlines. I wanted to chose a picture I had taken myself, and this is based on a photograph I took with my husband on our honeymoon. Fauvist believed that that bold color could give the viewers more feelings and emotions than any amount of finely drawn realist emotion. I have always been drawn to the bold use of color and I have to agree that it makes my heart happy to be in the presence of vivid color.

When I teach I often tell my students that you have to embrace what makes you unique and use that in your own artwork. In the background of this piece are quotes from different artists that are meaningful to me. “Creativity takes courage” “A work of art is a scream of freedom” “Curves are so emotional” “Color possesses me.” “Art is anything you can get away with” and “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break ’em like an artist.” To me, if you can embrace these things in your own artwork and about yourself you can find a freedom in all that you do.

I have always loved giraffes. I have always found it amazing that such awkward looking creatures were so graceful and elegant. When I was 16 I took all of I teach my 2nd grade students about giraffes every year, and we talk about all of the giraffe facts they know, and when we’ve covered everything the students know I get to tell them my favorite giraffe fact. I wonder if you can guess what it is?

When given the idea of wings as a photo op for the community, my initial thought was monarch butterfly wings. They migrate through the area and are a butterfly that young and old can identify with. I wanted to push the idea of community engagement even further by giving the monarch’s wings more depth and dimension by using fabric soaked in plaster to build up the edges of the wings. The splatters help to bring movement to the wings as well to create a interactive experience.

The idea was to recreate the idea from many years ago when I painted the fence as a sign for the pool when I was in high school. I painted an octopus, a very cartoon octopus. With this octopus I wanted to give it more action and purpose. I varied the types of paint that I used to have texture and shine to the piece. I want the viewer to feel like they need to reach out and touch the suction cups and ink.

When first presented with opportunity to create permanent works for downtown, I immediately was drawn to creating for the Mulefoot (now Hiram’s Tavern). Having lived down the road from the Romines, and gone to school during the same time creating a work for them seemed like the ultimate awesome idea. I chose a pig to go along with their pig logo, but knowing that they enjoy outsider art and art that doesn’t always follow the norms, I wanted to make the pig bold and command attention- which is what I feel like they have accomplished with their restaurant and dining experience as a whole.

Perhaps my favorite thing to do it paint seascapes. I love taking details of what I image the sunset or sunrise to look like and then creating my own unique seascapes. I have only been to the sea once, but it has been something that has had my attention since I was little. I start most of my seascapes from a photo I find and then run with the colors in the photo to make my own version of either calm, turbulent, or treacherous waters.

This was the first painting I finished of my five works for Imlay City’s, Art in Action. While bowling, maybe a year ago, I realized I had never drawn anything bowling related. Bowling has been a big part of my life the last few years, and to not have incorporated it into my art took me by surprise. First, I did a mini-canvas similar to this work as a project for my high school art class my senior year and when the DDA hired me, my first idea was to expand upon that mini bowling picture.

“Ode to Georgia,” is summed up in the title. It’s a painting like works a famous artist named Georgia O’Keefe, painted. I have always been a fan of O’Keefe, and I wanted to do a work similar to her extreme close-ups on flowers. I then took the idea and instead of lots of tiny details like in Georgia O’Keefe’s flower works, I wanted an image that would stand out with bold colors. I wanted to create an eye catching image that instantly made people think of flowers, but not one type in particular.

When I started this work, hurricane Irma was just starting to form in the Atlantic. It was during the time when they had no idea that it would actually hit land. My painting depicts a projected path of Irma, one of the very first predictions made of a guess it may hit land. The idea was presented to me when I had no ideas wandering in my brain, I had a friend suggest to me, “paint a hurricane.” At first I had turned them down. Then, when I got home I looked up photos just to see what could come of the idea, and I was hooked…

I have an interest in frogs, and when I have the chance to paint in my two favorite color schemes it makes painting that much more interesting. I love blues and greens, so painting with them brings a much more enjoyable atmosphere for me. This piece ties in with two other works of mine. I have a poison dart frog sculpture and a colored pencil work. I will probably be using frogs in my artwork for years to come because it’s something that I enjoy. The title came to me as I was thinking about the size difference between my beginning art work from when I was younger, to the size I now paint and the ‘leaps and bounds’ of a difference there is.

I’ve found that the most enjoyable renderings I create are of pin up girls and I spend most of my days making more and more. I discovered this when an ‘uncle’ of mine decided to joke about wanting a particular tattoo…next thing he knew he was turned into a certain boot wearing-bombshell. not only do I dedicate this painting to him but to my grandfather and my great grandfather. Fred and Warner Hoeksema were both fire chiefs and depicted in our own historical museum is a photograph my great grandpa (Fred) in fire engine number one, thus the number one on this pin up girl’s hat.”

244 East Third Street (located on back of building)
Hailey Campbell, artist

My time and effort painting for my hometown had a large purpose in my demeanor as an artist. I had always been told what to draw through assignments, friends, and family and found myself to be easily swayed to draw something I knew at least one person would like. The question remained throughout my summer about well…what do I like? All four of my beloved paintings are supposed to reflect what I have always wanted to achieve and I have never been more satisfied with my works, so when you ask yourself ‘why a red tiger with pink eyes?’ my answer is ‘why not’?

I decided in this rendering that I would do the opposite of what I normally study in portraiture. The majority of my painted and sketched faces are. trying to put forth some sort of expression, this particular portrait challenged my hand to bring about little to no expression on the face, but through color I wanted the audience to associate a feeling with this piece.

I have always found myself being drawn to owls, they somehow have always come very naturally to me and I find people (including myself) always in allure of the eyes. The intrigue I find in that also brought about the challenge of wanting my audience’s eyes to travel throughout my piece.

Though this was my first attempt at a seascape, I wanted to create a scenery painting that seemed tranquil and serene. A fairly calm ocean with the frequent crash of a wave lit only by moonlight seemed to be a relaxing thought to me.

For the first nine years of my life, I grew up on a cul-de-sac in Imlay City by the name of Lynn Court. Nowhere else in this world would I find more happy memories than this home to my childhood. Inspired by the style of my favorite artist, Pablo Picasso, I painted a scene comprised of all of my immediate family and my best friend.

Often when I’m looking for inspiration for a painting, I seek help from those close to me. For this painting, I asked my girlfriend, Katriel, what I should paint. She responded with this idea. Immediately I was inspired. I knew the exotic nature and vibrant blue feet of the bird would make for an eye-catching image.

The idea of the image for this painting struck me out of nowhere when I was trying to come up with a subject to paint. With the help of my niece, Taea, as my model, I was able to capture a beautiful photo of her posing in front of a tree. The title comes from Taea’s middle name, “Bleu”.

The inspiration for this piece is very simple. My dad is an avid fan of the King of Rock n’ Roll, Elvis Presley. I painted a pop-art style portrait of Elvis in honor of the amazing role-model my dad has been to me all throughout my life.

This was the first painting I created of the seven. Unsure of where to begin, I turned to another hobby of mine that brings me inspiration: music. I’ve been playing guitar since I was ten years old, and it only seemed appropriate that at least one of my paintings represent that part of my life.

I did this painting for my aunt. She had asked me to draw her dog. However, I had to put off drawing her picture for this project. I just didn’t have time between work and Imlay’s art. She was very understanding about it and she had done so much for me that I decided to create her painting in another way.

This one is my favorite painting from this project. I have always drawn animals and knew that there were a lot of dog lovers out there so I picked a dog I’ve always wanted. I couldn’t be happier with how he turned out and the placement of the painting. Not only is it hanging from the shop where I spent the time creating these paintings but also I love the way it plays off the building’s color.

I spent a lot of my off time thinking about what my next painting sould be. I could be inspired by something someone talked about or something I saw. During that week a lot of people were talking about boats. There was a boat race coming up and my friend bought herself a boat. So I painted my own boat.

This was a challenge given to me. There we as a bunch of tractor paint set out for us to use and I had a day. My original idea for the painting was different from what I ended up with. Tractor paint dries too slow for my original plan so I had to get inventive. I remembered a project from class that involved painting with a stick and it grew from there.

As my last piece I decided to do something​ different and fun. The idea came from a friend who had me draw a similar elephant on her back to see if it was a tattoo she would like. I thought it would be a fun piece. I know she got a kick out of it (the painting) and wanted to take it home!

I wanted my first painting to represent something about Imlay City’s history. So when I discovered that the railroad played a major part in putting the City on the map I knew I just had to paint a train. I decided on a black and white theme to represent old time photos.